Veil of Thorns
by Shadowfrogger
Summary: Everyone on Team RWBY has a secret, but what if their leader had one that was a bit darker than the others.
1. Chapter 1

Silence reigned in the inky darkness of the Emerald Forest, the only light being cast from the shattered moon hanging in the sky. It was just another dark night as a few of the smaller Beowolves lurked around, moving swiftly between trees following their older pack member on a hunt.

They had sensed the aura of a human approaching and were preparing to ambush it. Its speed of its approach was only equal to those metal horses that they sometimes used to get around. It was an easy prey in the thickness of the woods. Why the human decided to travel this way instead of a metal bird confused the leader but an easy hunt was good in its books.

The need to kill was overwhelming for one as young as him.

It was closer now.

Muscles tensed in apprehension.

With a howl the pack moved as one leaping forward in a blur of snapping jaws.

Only to get blasted away by a red blur that streaked through the trees without missing a step.

"I'm late I'm late I'mlateImlateImlateImlate" Ruby muttered frustrated under her breath as she moved swiftly through the trees. "Stupid initiation taking so long"

Ruby Rose aged 15, newest student of beacon and keeper of a dark secret.

A lot of people underestimated her ability with secret, yet for the last few years secrets had been her life.

A quick hop brought her flying over a fallen tree, her momentum staying steady as she all but flew through the air onto the outskirts of the city.

Looking around briefly she turned down a side street and blasted off towards one of the waterways.

She had been young when it first happened. An easy way to fix her problems. No one would know if she kept her face covered she thought. A onetime deal.

Which turned into two times, and then three and then four until it was too late to turn around.

The problem was she was so good at it.

A quick hop and she hopped over the edge of the canal and landed on the water perfectly still for a second, before she turned and dashed over the water into a darkened tunnel.

It was not something she showed off, being able to run on water. Another secret to keep.

The pipe she headed down took an abrupt vertical drop, descending into a thicker darkness.

The sewers of Vale weren't known for their safety, as the odd grim sometime was known to make their nest down there or the odd aquatic grim who managed to swim upstream. The only person who really entered them was an old semi-retired hunter who had taken it upon the job of checking them quarterly to clear our any unwanted pests.

It was due to this isolation she had come here in the first place, pure luck had guided her the rest of the way.

Falling down the darkened pipe she adjusted her trajectory so instead of landing in the water, she landed on a small stone walkway with a slight thump.

Sighing to herself she wondered what would happen if her new friends found out. .or worse her sister.

It wasn't like they were not keeping their own secrets, she knew all about Blake and the White Fang and don't get her started on Jaune's fake application.

Shaking her head free of thoughts she moved swiftly down the tunnel ahead from memory.

The first time she came down here was by accident and it was complete by chance she had stumbled upon this room.

Turned out that a few dozen years ago a group of scientists had set up a lab in the sewers, hidden behind an aura locked door.

They had worked in tight secrecy and had eventually left to start working in a place called Mountain Glenn and hadn't returned, or that's what the last few log entries in the computer said.

I mean whoever sets their password as _Password123_ deserved to have their stuff snooped on.

Turning a final corner, she came upon a dead end and placed her hand on a brick around the height of her head. With a small amount of Aura, she pushed the brick in and the wall opened.

I mean who could blame her for keeping this a secret.

It was the definition of AWSOME, a secret base! She had worked on the plans for her weapons in this room and kept all her notes on the Grimm she had met it would be so amazing to show people. However somethings needed to remain secrets

Hanging her normal red cloak up on the wall she reached out and pulled dark purple version of her cloak of the wall and threw it over her shoulders with it falling neatly at her feet

Quickly putting on a mask made of metal with a face dark tinted glass that covered her face completely she fastened it in place and pulled up her hood and pulled the cloak around her body, hiding her outfit from view.

Walking towards the large computer at one side of the room, she stood on the holographic pad and activated it.

Her sister would forgive her if she found out she hoped.

After all even Yang had her secrets. But then again…

None of them were as big as being the Crime Kingpin of Vale.

Looking around as the projector focused and with her voice modifier active she addressed the startled man in front of her.

"Hello Roman. We need to talk"

 **AN/**

 **Thank you for reading.**

 **This is my first time writing in a while so I hope you enjoy the small teaser to the story I'm going to (try) and write. I don't know how often ill be updating it but any feedback is welcome also any suggestions if anyone has any**


	2. Chapter 2

"Dammit you useless imbecile" Roared Roman Torchwick at a rat eared faunus that dropped another crate.

"Why are all of you animals so useless?" He cried in frustraation waving a hand over the group of white fang that were running a carrying crates into a lorry. A couple of them stopped what they were doing and turned the glare at the orange haired man.

Ignoring the growing hostility he continued on "First I am forced to retreat to a child due to incompetence and now I have a group of supposed terrorist who can't even load a van."

Turning with a sigh he finished "Why don't you all just get back to work"

The stress was getting to him. It had been days since he had last heard from the boss, not since that botched dust robbery. Normally going this long without contact wouldn't have bothered him but the tension was slowly eating him away.

He had a lot of respect for his leader but damn did she scare him, after all he had seen what happened when she got angry and was defiantly not looking for a reminder.

After all she was the reason he managed to achieve so much, he owed her a lot.

Better leading a group of useless henchmen and having a roof over your head than being a homeless street magician.

Shaking his head off past memories he sighed at the memories of the previous nights. How did everything go so wrong?

The plan had been going perfectly, they had got the co-operation of the shop keeper easier than they thought but unlike they had thought the shop wasn't empty.

How was he to know that the night they decided to rob the shop was the night that a scythe wielding psychopath decided to lurk in the shop reading a magazine?

He wouldn't admit it out loud but for a small second he felt a deep primal fear as the giant scythe appeared spinning around the smiling girl like it was nothing.

Then there is the fact as she took out his supposed top rate hired goons without even stopping to breath, hell he couldn't even see her move half the time

Also those goons, absolutely useless, if it wasn't for the fact he was good friends with Junior he would have went down there and demanded his money back. Yes they were defiantly not worth the lien.

Even though he escaped he was shocked to think that there were people who could fight with such skill at such young age, god forbid he meet her when she was older. He couldn't see that ending in his favour.

A loud crashing snapped his attention around, just in time to see the same rat eared faunus drop another crate, only this time tripping into the previously stacked crates and knocking them all over, spilling the content on the floor.

"I AM SURROUNDED BY SIMPLE MINDED ANIMALS!" he snapped in rage if those guns were damaged he wouldn't be able to get paid for them. "CANT YOU DO ONE SIMPLE JOB WITHOUT MESSING UP"

"Hello Roman. We need to talk" a quite robotic feminine voice spoke up from behind him.

He froze

Now of all time?

She chose now of all times to call?

Turning around slowly his fears were conformed.

The smallish figure clad in a dark velvet cloak that seemed to absorb the light around her, even though the hologram, with its hood raised over a blank mask made out of the darkest glass that seemed to faint dots that twinkled randomly.

The Mask had always disturbed him, he could read most people like a book when he saw their faces, cold reading being one of the many skills that had helped him get food in the past. However the smooth blank face of his boss made it impossible to tell how she felt. There was one time however, when she got angry he swore he could see the glass on the mask glow slightly.

What's worse was she always stood unnaturally still when she spoke, Her cloak hiding everything but her feet, not even her arms could be seen, all in all in unnerved him.

"The dust robbery."

He cringed, straight to the point it seemed.

"From what I've heard, you were taken down by a little girl" for a second he thought he saw her twitch slightly as she said that.

This failure must have been worse than he had thought, to get such a visual reaction from her.

"If it was for the fact you have been so successful in your past endeavours and have proven your loyalty I would be taking a more _unpleasant_ action." She said smoothly, emphasising the slight threat.

It seemed he was in luck this time.

He bowed his head slightly before addressing the cloaked women before him.

"I thank you for your understanding, However If I meet that red hooded girl again I will make sure she doesn't leave in one piece"

Another twitch. Dammit she must really not be happy

"Anyway," she continued in an even tone "How is this operation progressing? Are the White Fang keeping up their end of bargain?"

Roman winced. Normally we wouldn't have mentioned the problems he was having to her, lest it come back to bite him, but she had properly seen his annoyance earlier.

"So far they have been keeping up their end. The men they provided to help in the factory are incompetent at simple tasks." He explained trying to not to let his annoyance at the fact slip through.

"I only hope they prove more useful if they are required to fight." He finished

A slight nod was his only answer before she continued.

"And how is Cinder doing?"

"She's returned to the operation you sent her on in the Glenn, taking Mercury and Emerald with her."

Another nod, the light seeming to glint of her mask.

"Good, I am working on another operation at the moment so I will be limiting communication for the time being. Don't fail me Roman."

And with that the transmission was cut off.

Roman shivered, relaxing slightly. The tension he had been feeling dissipating.

Things seemed to be looking up for the time being.

The moment of calm was ruined by another crash behind him.

Looking around he glared at the rat eared faunus

With a low growl he addressed the room.

"Can someone _please_ get this useless clumsy rat OUT of my Warehouse!?"

* * *

With a click the call ended and Ruby Rose reached up to her face and took of the mask, twitching slightly for a few seconds before bursting out laughing and fell backwards into a large armchair.

"The look on his face" she managed to croak out through the laughter.

How she managed to get through that call with a straight face was beyond her. The fact that he seemed to think she was getting angry every time she struggled to get control of herself.

The Dust shop didn't matter, the plan had worked. Roman takes some thugs to the shop she was in, she beats them up and therefor she gets out of her sisters watchful gaze.

Her sister had been starting to get interested in why she had been sneaking out every other night.

The being accepted to Beacon was just a luck. Who would expect Ruby Rose, Childish Hunter in Training and leader of Team RWBY was also running the city's crime.

The cover was perfect.

Then she remember Romans words if they met again and the laughter only increased.

Oh god it would be so funny if Roman found out that she was both the girl who ruined his robbery and the girl who planned it.

"I won't leave in one piece" she chuckled to herself.

When she realised that she had to keep this life a secret and apart from anything Ruby she had started to hold back slightly in her classes.

People didn't expect her to move fast enough to run on water, hell if she tried she was able to convince people her semblance was teleportation.

It wasn't only her running speed that had increased though. She was faster in just about everything.

With a sigh she leapt of the chair and moved towards a large white board.

She was glad she was becoming a hunter, maybe now she could make her parents proud and actually help people.

This wasn't the life she wanted and now she had to keep it all a secret, a dark alter ego.

Looking at the whiteboard she pulled a piece of paper off and crumpled it up.

Her plan for the rest of Signal was useless now.

Maybe for the next few days she could try living as just Ruby Rose.

Checking the time again she gasped in horror

5am!

She had classes at 9!

Also she hadn't slept yet!

Quickly switching back to her usual outfit, she opened the door and vanished down the tunnel, the sewage blasting all over the tunnel in a shockwave of the condensed power.

 **AN/**

 **Second Chapter done, thought I would leave it there while I tried to think of some stuff for Ruby when she's acting the criminal, trying to decide on a alias for her to use when she's being a criminal, also trying to decide on a weapon for her to use in her other role, Had a idea of a Sword Whip thing or maybe a something based on Walters gloves in Hellsing.**

 **Anyway thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it**


	3. Chapter 3

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that the final one" Yang cried out punching a large spikey beowolf in the face several times with an echoing explosion of her shotgun blasting. It had been a week since classes had started and now in an attempt to try and build some teamwork among her new team, Ruby had suggested to go out to the Emerald Forest after class but several hours wandering around forest found nothing until they had finally stumbled on what had seemed to be a small pack of Beowolves.

With an uppercut the already dead beowolf flew up into the sky, slowly disintegrating to nothingness. "Well that was easy" Yang chuckled happily.

A sudden rustling of the foliage behind her caused her to spin around to see a larger beowolf flying towards her, claws extended and eyes glinting of madness. Before she could react there was a slight flash and the airborne Grimm was severed at the waist, the separate pieces falling to the ground.

"You should keep an eye on your back" Blake said in an even tone as she sheathed her weapon.

Over to the left Ruby had just collapsed her scythe back to its more smaller form as Weiss pulled her sword out of the eye socket of another one and sheathed it at her waist with a click.

Things between the two girls had improved her the last few days though they had started of tense. Ruby didn't know how to react to Weiss's accusation that she had done nothing to earn her position at Beacon and to be team leader. To be honest when she had been selected as the leader she had panicked.

Why had he made her leader? Was it honestly because he thought she had the potential to become a great leader, or did he see something in her?

If it wasn't for the fact that he seemed unaware of her hidden life when they had talked on the second day she would have still been worrying. Weiss on the other hand had mellowed out over the last few days, offering to help Ruby catch up on the subjects she was behind in.

Ruby hadn't realised in all the excitement of coming to Beacon (and due to her busy nightlife) that while she was able to keep up with her new classmates in combat and weapon crafting, she was two years behind in several of the more theoretical studies.

Due to this she hadn't had the chance to sneak off to check to see how things were going in the city since Weiss had taken it upon herself to catch Ruby up over several late night cramming sessions.

The result, while not knowing everything she needed to know, was that she was able to keep up slightly better even if she had to ask Weiss or Yang for help.

Blake had helped her sometimes but she often felt a bit distant compared to the others, reading her book curled up on her bunk while occasionally chipping in with some useful information one of the others hadn't covered.

"Why would I do that when I know I have you watching it for me Blakey?" Yang said happily smiling as she walked back over to Ruby.

With a shake of her head, Blake followed on behind her. "What would happen if we were outnumbered and I was in combat when something tried to get a lucky bite in?" Blake question dryly.

"I'd punch it in the FACE!" Yang said with an exuberant fist pump as her gauntlets folded back down to her wrist.

"You're such a brute" Weiss told Yang with a sigh as she turned around to face Ruby.

"We have been out here for hours and only encountered this small pack, think it's time to head back?"

Ruby looked at the older girl before nodding, "Sound's good. It's starting to get late and this way we can have a rest before we head down to dinner"

"Alright let's go!" Yang said turning and walking off into the woods.

"Wrong way" Blake commented as Yang seamlessly turned around and started heading in the opposite direction.

Blake sighed and followed her off into the woods. Shaking her head Weiss turned to her younger partner.

"You did an adequate job today" she commented briefly before she turned around and marched after the other two girls into the woods, leaving Ruby awkwardly shuffling her feet due to the sudden praise.

Things all in all didn't seem to bead for Ruby at the moment. Blinking she looked around and saw that everyone was gone

"Wait for mee!" she cried and dashed after them into the woods.

* * *

Ruby let out an exhausted puff of air as she flopped back on her armchair. Since it was the weekend she had managed to convince her teammates that she was going to spend a night with a friend from Signal to catch up, it was an excuse she had used on Yang a lot, letting her go and focus on her other job.

While she enjoyed the company of her new friends she found the sounds of the sewers strangely comforting after spending so much time there. She had made plans and plots here, managed several dozen operations over the years, but more importantly this was where she had designed and built several prototypes of Crescent Rose and many other weapons.

She found it relaxing to build weapons, some part of her really enjoyed putting them together and trying to make each one bigger and better and nowhere was better than her secret sewer lair with a fully functional workshop meaning she could go wild.

She had made an hatchet that turned into a machine gun, a spear that double as a flame thrower (though it was possible to change the element with dust) even a massive mace that turned into a cannon that shot dust infused cannonballs.

The last one was defiantly a fun weapon to use, though the sheer size of it and the added weight made it impractical even though it had blown a hole through several grimm and the trees behind it and implanted itself into the ground when it came to a stop.

She had even created the cane that Torchwick used, even though he only had his hands on the original design.

There had been several upgrades, improving the materials and the functions of it each time.

Everyone needed a hobby and while some people read or play games, she made crazy weapons to murder grimm with.

It had been a week however since she had spoken to her subordinates and while she had faith in their ability to do their jobs, she rather be kept inside the loop.

Clicking on her mask she walked over to her console and hit the buttons to activate the transmission.

With a shimmer a large screen on the wall turned on showing her the warehouse that was currently being used by her organization only to blink at the unexpected angry roar that greeted her.

"I DON'T CARE!"

"I have already told you before, Ms Thorn will be in contact when she is ready to speak with us" the calm tones of Roman replied.

"AND I SAID I DON'T CARE! FIVE OF MY MEN HAVE GONE MISSING IN THE LAST WEEK! I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO DO JUST GET ME THAT BITCH DOWN HERE!"

The angered man, who towered over the well-dressed thief had two tusks jutting out from his mouth and a slightly piggish nose with a large metal nose ring. On his head were to floppy pig ears and a purplish colour Mohawk.

On his face was a slightly smaller version of the grimm mask worn by most white fang members, only that it covered the eyes and had single red stripes going down vertically at the centre of each eye.

He was the leader of the white fang under the employee of Roman and Ruby.

"I must politely ask you to calm down." Roman said surprisingly calmly as the warthog Faunus seemed to spit every time he spoke.

"It would not do you any good to talk about Ms Thorn that way. I can understand you are angry about your missing companions and when I have the chance to speak with her I shall pass on this information."

"ENOUGH! YOU BLOODY HUMANS THINK YOU'RE TOO IMPORTANT TO CHECK FOR MY MISSING MEN!"

The enraged man slammed his flabby hand down on the metal table next to him, sinking it in several inches.

"Enough." The calm voice freezing any both of the men in place.

"May I ask what you mean about your men going missing Varken?"

He turned, eyes still squinted in burning rage before he took a breath and spoke in a barely controlled growl.

"Over the last week several of my men have gone missing when out in the city. The first was Bruns a teenage rat Faunus that never returned after someone kicked him out of the warehouse early this week. "

Roman sighed "If he was capable of carrying a box across the room without getting tangled in his tail maybe I wouldn't have needed to."

"HE WAS JUST A BOY!" Varken roared spinning around to face the white suited thief.

"Silence" interrupted the holographic Ruby, "I will look into this. Now if you may Varken I have much to discuss with Roman."

"But.."

Focusing her gaze on him, the holographic version of Ruby followed the movement.

"I am aware you are worried about your men Varken but yelling at us will not find them any quicker. At the moment the best thing you can do is to continue with your current job and leave the situation in my hands."

For a second the larger man looked like he was going to complain before he stopped and turned away stomping off.

"Now Roman, Did you have anything to do with these missing Faunus."

"Do you really think I would risk the operation by getting rid of our work staff? These animals might not be worth much but they are all I have to get the current job done.

The outrage on his face of being accused of the actions complimented his story.

"Despite that lump of lards opinion I have already sent out men to try and find them, in case they gave away information on our current goals."

As the masked hologram in front of him nods he continues, "I also been told by Junior that Floin Flynn has started kicking up trouble downtown, trying to get his old gang back together."

Floin Flynn used to run a black market in downtown vale, while stronger than his criminal brethren due to the fact he had his aura unlocked he still had not discovered his semblance. His choice in weapon on the other hand was a large flail with four spike balls on the end of four chains.

"Keep an eye on him for the time being, let me know if he causes any more problems" Ruby addressed her subordinate calmly.

"I have asked Asia to keep an eye on him, she said she had several of our men watching his operation."

While Ruby often checked in Roman several of the others under her employ were managing the normal running of her empire and therefor didn't need constant supervision. Roman on the other hand had a specific task and often managed the day to day problems of the other districts problems.

"That's good Roman. You know how to contact me if there is an emergency."

Another click and the holographic display cut off.

Things were running smoothly.


	4. Chapter 4

"Yaaaang!" Ruby cried out in frustration, "We are going to be late!"

It had been a month since the Ruby had entered Beacon and things had been improving a lot. Not only did she managed to catch up on all the subjects she needed to do but she had found she had found it relatively easy to keep up with the work. The other thing that had happened was that she had started to get closer to Weiss and Blake, the former becoming more accepting that she wasn't leader and the latter becoming more open with her team.

"Hold your horse's sis!" Yang called from the bathroom she had been occupying for all of three minutes.

"You've been in there for ages!"

"I only just got in here" the blonde yelled back to her little sister.

With a frustrated sigh Ruby ran over to the door and started to bang on it.

"Come on come on come on!"

The door swung open and a frustrated Yang stormed out.

"Fine! I'm ready!"

"YAAAAAAAY!" Ruby cried as she grabbed Yang's arm "Bye Blake bye Weiss!" she cried before she vanished in a flurry of rose petals leaving a sleepy pair of girls behind.

"Do you feel slightly guilty leaving Yang to deal with Ruby today?" the white headed girl grumbled tiredly to her roommate"

The raven haired girl looked over to Weiss with tired eyes, the thought of having to deal with Ruby when she was surrounded a shake of her head "Not at all."

* * *

"HUNTERS STUDENTS AND CITIZANS! LEND ME YOUR EARS! Injured in the line of duty? Unable to walk and therefor work? NOT ANY MORE! May I now present to you the Maple Company's newest line of Hunter gear! The BCX390! This fully augmented electronic wheelchair is fitted with all your Grimm exterminating needs!" A skinny man cried out as a young blond girl wearing army fatigues that wasn't fully buttoned all the way to the top exposing her well-endowed chest came out on slightly larger than normal looking wheelchair to the applause and wolf whistles of a growing crowd around the stage.

"This Baby is mounted with a six barrel revolver shotgun under each armrest, two 360 degrees accuracy high powered machine guns on the shoulders and a cup holder for when you get thirsty!"

As he spoke the smiling blonde drove the wheelchair out to the middle of the stage and span it around a few times before activating each of the weapons the man next to her spoke about.

"And I know what you're thinking! What if the Grimm get in close range! WELL ill have you know the BCX390 is loaded with a DUST PULSE MACHINE! He roared as the crowed of people in front of him started to mutter in excitement.

"YES! The long awaited MDPM has finally been approved for public sale and I am here today to also demonstrate it for you! Today in the arena in two hours there will be a live demonstration with Grimm caught live today! Not only is the MDPM mounted in our BCX390 but it is available as an attachment for your weapons and will be on sale by the end of the week!"

With that the girl turned the wheelchair and drove of the stage, still smiling brightly as the speaker followed her.

"Oooo did you hear that Yang! They have a Dust Pulse Machine!" Ruby cried looking starry eyed at the wheelchair that just left "And that chair! So many guns!"

Yang shook her head, "Common Ruby lets go get lunch and we have been nonstop here all day."

"But Yaaang its Wep-Con! You know I've been dying to come here for years."

This was true, ever since Ruby started her training she had been wanting to come to Wep-Con, a yearly convention where people showed off their weapons and new weapons and technology was announced.

"I know Sis, but you have been to almost every exhibit here. Some even twice!" Yang said with an exasperated sigh.

"Fiiiine." Ruby muttered subdued "But can we come back for the demonstrations."

"Sure thing sis. I can see now why Dad never bought you here." As she started to head towards the exit.

Their dad had refused to bring Ruby to the convention many times, no matter what Ruby did. And since you had to be over 18, a Hunter/Hunter-In-Training or accompanied by an adult she had never been able to see the inside of the building before.

Ruby had even tried asking her uncle Qrow but it turned out he had been banned due to an incident with him and the Schnee Tech representative several years previous.

"Ah Ladies, How wonderful it is to see some of my students taking such an interest in the improvements in hunting technology!" a loud cheerful voice greeted them as they emerged through the doors outside.

"Professor Port!" Ruby greeted cheerfully "Are you here for Wep-Con as well?

"Oh of course, Wep-Con is a great example of all the ways we have developed to get rid of those pesky Grimm. Of course a true hunter is more than just his weapon! I'll have you know I once took out a pack of Beowolves using nothing but a paperclip, a roll of duct tape and a teaspoon!" he finished exuberantly, puffing his chest out slightly.

"Anyway I have been looking forward to this year's Wep-Con. It's a shame that Atlas pulled out of it at last minute."

"Atlas pulled out?" A confused Ruby questioned.

"Ah yes, they were all primed to announce their newest line of robotics, however they have decided to delay the announcement till the Vytal Festival. It's a shame really. Atlas normally put on a good show. Why I remember one year when…" The older man started to talk before Yang quickly interrupted.

"Sorry Professor, Me and Ruby have to get going if we want to be back for the demonstrations later today."

"Ah no trouble girls, Enjoy the rest of your day." The man said before heading inside the building.

"Thank god he didn't start telling one of his stories, he really does ramble doesn't he?" Yang said as she looked down at her sister.

"Common Sis let's get food."

"Ah what a day" Yang yawned while stretching as she walked back through the darkened streets to catch airship to beacon. "I have to admit though the Convention is amazing. I never knew there were so many crazy weapons. Though some of them seem a bit… excessive."

* * *

The sun had set and the streets were quite due to the fact anyone still out was at the convention for its late time showings. The only light on the streets were from the lampposts which were spread evenly down the side of the road, the odd one flickering slightly before regaining its strength. The two girls had thought about stating longer at the convention but unfortunately the last airship to beacon for students was leaving soon causing the two sisters to head out early.

"Yeah that lighter that turned into saber didn't seem practical at all. The size difference means that the weapon won't be that well-constructed and rather flimsy." Ruby agreed with a nod.

They had been at the convention all day and while they were both exhausted they had seen a lot of interesting weapons and inventions throughout their day, improved dust rounds and pre-built weapons for those who had trouble building their own and even upgrades for more common weapon parts made out of better materials.

A lot of the weapons there had just been showy weapons for people with money to waste to buy so they could seem impressive if they ever had to go into a fight, more decorative than actual weapons.

"Anyway I hope the others have had a good day..." Yang started before her eyes narrowed and she hissed quietly at her sister "Over there. That guy just grabbed that girl and dragged her into that alley."

Ruby turned to where Yang was looking and saw the shadowed forms sinking into the darkness of the alley.

"Common Ruby we need to stop him!" the blonde said as she ran towards the alley and after the figure.

"Yang! Wait up!" cried Ruby as she chased after her sister but as she reached the alley there was no sign of her.

The light of the streetlights had barely reached the alley and the buildings cut out any natural light from the sky. Shadows twisted in the darkness forming strange and monstrous shapes as Ruby walked descended further into the darkness.

"Yang?" the girl called softly trying to spot her sister. There was a strange silence to the alley the sounds of the city seeming to be further away. The further down Ruby went the darker things became, more oppressive as the darkness seemed to surround her.

The sound of running footsteps made Ruby jump as she spam around. To the left of her a darker patch of shadows seemed to be running further away from her.

"Yang?" Ruby called louder than before as she moved towards the movement.

A noise from behind her this time, causing her to spin around peering into the darkness, the silence deafening.

A door opened behind her this time and she saw a spark of light as she turned around to see a door closing.

Picking up her speed Ruby moved towards the door and reached for the handle. With a click it opened revealing a room shrouded in darkness. A doorway opposite her had light flickering through it faintly, not enough to light the room but enough to make out the shape of the furniture of the room.

With a breath she moved forward towards the door, trying to remain silent. The house was cold, not just in temperature but in the way that puts chills down your spine. Nerves bit into Ruby as she moved her way silent further into the house.

As she exited the room she found herself in a long corridor, lit by a couple of candles placed at intervals along the wall and the overhead electric light turned off. The walls where painted a rich burgundy and the floor was a dark brown wood.

A low muttering could be heard coming from one room.

Turning into one room she held back a gasp. The room wasn't as dark as the previous one, a faint light trickled in from the door. In the low light she could make out four people standing completely still. They hadn't even reacted to her at the door.

"Hello?" the red hooded girl whispered to only be met with silence.

With that she decided to move further into the room. The closest of the unmoving people didn't react to her presences unnerving her slightly as she waved her hand in front of his face.

Looking closer she saw it was a Faunus, not a very attractive one. His long face was rough and a slightly pointing nose and whiskery hairs protruding from under it and out of it. His mouth was in a slight grin showing badly cared for, half rotten teeth. The thing that seemed to stand out though were his wide blue eyes, the shade of the sea on a clear sunny day that seemed to shine slightly like sapphires, that seemed so full of life but at the same time dead. On top of his head were to rat ears and scruffy thin light brown hair in a rough looking manner, obviously not that well looked after.

Putting a hand on his shoulder to shake him Ruby realised that his skin was cold to the touch. Checking for a pulse she felt nothing but the ice cold clammy skin.

"The eyes, so blue, so pure. I like the eyes. We need the eyes" the muttering voice grew louder in the corridor outside the room as the creaks of the old wooden floor steadily go closer. "Lost the skin, the skin needs to be found replaced. The Hair as well. I like the hair. We need the hair."

Ruby jumped into action, aiming to hide but wasn't fast enough as a slumped figure walked through the door wearing a worn, old hoody. The face of the man entering the room was covered by the hood, leaving only green bloodshot eyes visible which instantly stopped moving when they focused on her.

"Little girl? No little girl meant to be here. She's seen the eyes? I don't like that. The eyes are ours. Need to go. Can't be found." He muttered under his breath moving forward.

Ruby slowly reached to her back for Crescent Rose but the next thing she knew the man was in front of her, gripping the arm that was going for her weapon, the other caressing her cheek softly with a rough hand causing Ruby to shiver in revulsion at the touch of his greasy skin.

"Nice skin, Soft skin, Pretty skin. Silver eyes. So pretty" he whisper more to himself to himself. "But I have eyes. Need skin."

Ruby froze in disgust as the man leaned in close and licked her cheek slowly while holding her chin with his hand, his tongue wet and slimy across the side of her face.

"Don't worry little one." He whispered softly, his breath hot on her ear. "I will find a place for you."

"Lots of pretty pieces fit the puzzle" he muttered as he pulled away and turned to get something from the other side of the room.

Before he could react, Ruby grabbed Crescent Rose off her back and swung it, in its still holstered form at the back of the man's head sending him flying towards the wall with a flash of aura absorbing most of the blow.

As the man slammed into the wall, his head slamming into the light switch causing a sudden blinding flash as all the lights in the room turned on, blinding Ruby with the sudden change in light.

Blinking the rest of the figures in the room came into view.

They were all Faunus.

One of them was tall female with long red hair and a pair of fox ears on the top, dressed in long blood red dress that covered a very shapely figure her face was perfect with smooth pale skin her eyes a wonderful green with neat eyebrows fitting her face perfectly. The only problem was her lips, or her lack of. Where most people had their lips were pink skin and pure white teeth stained with blood.

Another was a very pretty looking male, with smooth pale skin and with full lips. His eyes however were missing. Two black voids were where they should be. His long hair was a mixture of black and white and a long black and white striped tail looped down next to him.

Next to him was a small girl who looked to be around ten. She had rather cute face and a small dress on. On her head were a pair of curly horn, visible through long curly whitish blonde hair that hell to her waste. Her mouth was open and completely devoid of tongue and teeth. Her innocent eyes staring blankly in front of her

They were all Faunus.

The hooded man rose back to his feet and reached for a table, pulling a long thin knife that was stained with coppery red. Hissing he looked towards the staring girl.

"Silly girl" he hissed, his voice slightly raspy. As he took a step forward towards Ruby, he raised his knife as she got ready to change activate her scythe.

"Ruby? Where are you?" Yang voice called, slightly muffled from the walls.

The man's eyes winded at the sound, before he turned and ran out of the room.

Ruby blinked at the man's reaction and ran out of the room, with her weapon turning into a sniper. As she went into the long corridor she looked both ways and saw no sign of the disturbed man.

"Ruuuby!" Yang's voice echoed again.

Not missing the chance to get out of the building she was in, she put holstered her weapon and wiped the spit of her cheek with her sleeve before moving quickly down the corridors of the building to the door she had come in through.

That Rat Faunus. That was the same Faunus that Ruby had seen Torchwick yelling at several weeks ago. The same one that she had been told had gone missing and Torchwick had been looking for all month.

"Yang! Over here!" she called as the door closed silently behind her.

A few seconds later the blonde showed up.

"Sis! Did you see that guy? I managed to find the girl." She said cheerfully but with a hint of anger.

"No I didn't find anyone." Ruby answered.

She knew she should tell Yang about the man in the building and the Faunus but she knew if she did the police would come and that she wouldn't be able to track him down. She had to let Varken know that she had found his missing Faunus and get Torchwick to send men out to examine the area and see if they could find any information.

Also the fact that this man had taken her by surprise. Normally she could have taken him down but she had been out of practise. Fighting Grimm is a lot different than fighting Humans and Faunus. Grimm don't think as well and are a lot more predictable. Next time she would be ready.

Next time she would teach this man not to mess with her underlings, Faunus or otherwise.

"Dammit. You should have seen the girl when I found her. She was on her way home from work. Poor girl gets hard enough time as it as a Faunus."

Ruby nodded before she blinked.

"Yang? What time is it?"

"Almost eight why?"

"The airship leaves in 10 minutes!"

Yang's eyes widened before she swore and started running to the landing pad, Ruby hot on her heels.

* * *

Ruby's hands flew over the keyboard in her sewer lair as she searched for information about the missing Faunus. So far she had found almost no news reports and no police reports about any missing Faunus in the best five years.

There had been the odd one, a Faunus child being snatched from a nursery a year ago or a Faunus who had married a human vanishing on their way back from work. So far though none had matched the descriptions of the body's in the house she found today.

When she and Yang made it to the airship (with seconds to spare) she had excused herself to the toilet and promptly thrown up the content of her stomach. It had hit her suddenly that all the people in the room were dead.

While she had encountered death both due to her past, wanting to be a hunter and her side job she had never seen it so trivialised and blatant. The Faunus in the house had been killed and put on display with bit missing like some sort of art show.

After she finished filling the toilet with her lunch she took out her scroll and sent a recording to her computer in the sewers. It would relay the message with the hologram she had saved for remote messages to Torchwick.

She got him to go to the house with Varken and couple of other White Fang members. She asked them to check the building and see if they could find anything about who had taken and killed the people on display.

After dinner and spending time with her team (and telling them all about the amazing weapons she had seen that day, even if she was thinking about getting Torchwick to steal some of them) she managed to slip away when everyone had turned in for the night.

Now she was waiting for Torchwick to contact her with what they had found at the house. She hoped that it wasn't the missing person Varken had mentioned to her a month previous.

Since Varken had told her about that another four Faunus had gone missing, slowing down to one a week. If however the Rat eared man in the house was the missing Faunus then things didn't seem to be looking up for the rest.

Her computer beep, alerting her to the call request. Clipping on her helmet she accepted the call sending out the hologram.

"Roman. What did you find out." The girl questioned straight of the bat.

"It's not good." The well-dressed thief said over the sounds of something smashing in the background.

"They found another eight Faunus in there, some they recognised from going missing several years ago. The Rat Faunus that you mentioned was indeed the one we have been looking for."

A roar interrupted as a crate smashed into the wall behind Roman.

Ruby sighed. "I take it Varken is not taking this well."

"I only just managed to stop him going and killing every human in the area."

Ruby nodded. "Bring him over. We need to talk.

With a wave and a yell of "Varken" the man called the older Faunus over to him.

"What." He growled his face red in anger and sweat. He was literally trembling in rage. His fists clenched tightly at his sides.

"I'm sorry for you loss." The girl calmly said. "However losing your temper here is more likely to do more harm than good."

The larger man twitched before he growled "How should I react then? One of my men has been put on display like some sort of taxidermy animal! THERE WHERE CHILDREN WITH BITS CUT OUT THEIR FACE!"

Ruby nodded her head, "Yes and causing a loud enough commotion to attract attention which might lead to this operation being discovered and then how could you find the man who has done this. "

The man growled towards Ruby, his cheeks shaking slightly.

"Now I've heard that the man you found is our missing Rat Faunus from before."

The Warthog Faunus took a breath before speaking.

"Yeah, I'd recognize those eyes anywhere. He always was an ugly little fucker but his eyes… his eyes were different."

Ruby nodded. "And you found more Faunus there? You recognised them?"

The man nodded. "Yeah, knew one of them myself. Though like most people I thought he had deserted the White Fang."

"Ok. From now on no Faunus is allowed outside on his own. I'm going to organise people to start looking into this man. I won't allow innocents to be murdered in this city. "

The man growled again but nodded in understanding.

"That includes you. Don't go out doing anything stupid. We will find this monster." Ruby said calmly to the still enraged man.

"Now Roman. Is there anything else I should know?"

"Yes I found…." Before he could continue a gentle clinking sound slowly got louder before a feminine voice spoke up.

"Hello Amethyst. It's been too long."

Ruby internally sighed. Why did she need to show up now of all times.

"Cinder. How nice of you to join us."

 **AN/**

 **First of all thank you for reading. This will be my last chapter before Christmas and I hope you enjoy it.**

 **I have been wondering though, when writing about how Ruby started her life of crime would it be better to right it in one big flashback chapter or over the course of several interludes. I myself am leaning towards the interludes.**

 **Also if anyone has any OC ideas, feel free to let me know (and with a bit of a background as well if there's a specific way you think they should act.) I'll try and fit some of them in when I'm needing a OC. I got a few planned out but new ideas are always awesome.**

 **Anyway I hope you have enjoyed this chapter and if you have any feedback/suggestion please feel free to leave a review, helps me know how people are feeling about how my story's going.**

 **Have a great holiday everyone.**


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